Gems: Socket Effects, Cube Upgrades and Where to Find Them

Diablo 2 Resurrected has 7 kinds of gems (Amethyst, Topaz, Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, Diamond and Skull), each in 5 qualities: 35 gems in total. A gem socketed into an item has a different effect depending on the item type: one in a weapon, another in a helm or body armor, and another in a shield. This guide lists every gem's effects, the cube upgrades and where to find them.

1.Qualities and Socketing

Quality	Required level
Chipped	1
Flawed	5
Standard	12
Flawless	15
Perfect	18

• Drag a gem onto a socket to insert it; if the item's required level is below the gem's, the gem's requirement applies.
• Helms and body armor get the same effect; shields and weapons have their own. Amulets, rings, belts, gloves and boots have no sockets, so gems cannot go into them.
• There is no way to get a socketed gem back: in the cube, a Hel rune + Scroll of Town Portal + the item empties the sockets but destroys what was in them (Horadric Cube Recipes).
• The "Standard" quality has no prefix in game (e.g. just "Ruby").

2.Socket Effects

Amethyst

Gem	Weapon	Helm and body armor	Shield
Chipped Amethyst	+40 to Attack Rating	+3 to Strength	+8 Defense
Flawed Amethyst	+60 to Attack Rating	+4 to Strength	+12 Defense
Amethyst	+80 to Attack Rating	+6 to Strength	+18 Defense
Flawless Amethyst	+100 to Attack Rating	+8 to Strength	+24 Defense
Perfect Amethyst	+150 to Attack Rating	+10 to Strength	+30 Defense

Topaz

Gem	Weapon	Helm and body armor	Shield
Chipped Topaz	Adds 1–8 lightning damage	9% better chance of getting magic items	Lightning resist +12%
Flawed Topaz	Adds 1–14 lightning damage	13% better chance of getting magic items	Lightning resist +16%
Topaz	Adds 1–22 lightning damage	16% better chance of getting magic items	Lightning resist +22%
Flawless Topaz	Adds 1–30 lightning damage	20% better chance of getting magic items	Lightning resist +28%
Perfect Topaz	Adds 1–40 lightning damage	24% better chance of getting magic items	Lightning resist +40%

Sapphire

Gem	Weapon	Helm and body armor	Shield
Chipped Sapphire	Adds 1–3 cold damage (1 s chill)	+10 to Mana	Cold resist +12%
Flawed Sapphire	Adds 3–5 cold damage (1.4 s chill)	+17 to Mana	Cold resist +16%
Sapphire	Adds 4–7 cold damage (2 s chill)	+24 to Mana	Cold resist +22%
Flawless Sapphire	Adds 6–10 cold damage (2.4 s chill)	+31 to Mana	Cold resist +28%
Perfect Sapphire	Adds 10–14 cold damage (3 s chill)	+38 to Mana	Cold resist +40%

Emerald

Gem	Weapon	Helm and body armor	Shield
Chipped Emerald	+10 poison damage over 3 seconds	+3 to Dexterity	Poison resist +12%
Flawed Emerald	+20 poison damage over 4 seconds	+4 to Dexterity	Poison resist +16%
Emerald	+40 poison damage over 5 seconds	+6 to Dexterity	Poison resist +22%
Flawless Emerald	+60 poison damage over 6 seconds	+8 to Dexterity	Poison resist +28%
Perfect Emerald	+100 poison damage over 7 seconds	+10 to Dexterity	Poison resist +40%

Ruby

Gem	Weapon	Helm and body armor	Shield
Chipped Ruby	Adds 3–4 fire damage	+10 to Life	Fire resist +12%
Flawed Ruby	Adds 5–8 fire damage	+17 to Life	Fire resist +16%
Ruby	Adds 8–12 fire damage	+24 to Life	Fire resist +22%
Flawless Ruby	Adds 10–16 fire damage	+31 to Life	Fire resist +28%
Perfect Ruby	Adds 15–20 fire damage	+38 to Life	Fire resist +40%

Diamond

Gem	Weapon	Helm and body armor	Shield
Chipped Diamond	+28% damage to Undead	+20 to Attack Rating	All resistances +6
Flawed Diamond	+34% damage to Undead	+40 to Attack Rating	All resistances +8
Diamond	+44% damage to Undead	+60 to Attack Rating	All resistances +11
Flawless Diamond	+54% damage to Undead	+80 to Attack Rating	All resistances +14
Perfect Diamond	+68% damage to Undead	+100 to Attack Rating	All resistances +19

Skull

Gem	Weapon	Helm and body armor	Shield
Chipped Skull	2% life stolen per hit; 1% mana stolen per hit	Replenish life +2; Regenerate mana 8%	Attacker takes damage of 4
Flawed Skull	2% life stolen per hit; 2% mana stolen per hit	Replenish life +3; Regenerate mana 8%	Attacker takes damage of 8
Skull	3% life stolen per hit; 2% mana stolen per hit	Replenish life +3; Regenerate mana 12%	Attacker takes damage of 12
Flawless Skull	3% life stolen per hit; 3% mana stolen per hit	Replenish life +4; Regenerate mana 12%	Attacker takes damage of 16
Perfect Skull	4% life stolen per hit; 3% mana stolen per hit	Replenish life +5; Regenerate mana 19%	Attacker takes damage of 20

3.Most Used Gems

Values are per socket at Perfect quality. Each socket counts separately: two Perfect Topazes in a two-socket helm give 48% magic find.

Goal	Gem	Where	Effect
Magic find	Perfect Topaz	Helm, body armor	24% better chance of getting magic items
Life	Perfect Ruby	Helm, body armor	+38 to Life
All resistances	Perfect Diamond	Shield	All resistances +19
Single resistance (highest)	Perfect Ruby	Shield (Sapphire, Emerald and Topaz give the same value to their own resistance)	Fire resist +40%
Life and mana steal	Perfect Skull	Weapon	4% life stolen per hit; 3% mana stolen per hit
Strength	Perfect Amethyst	Helm, body armor	+10 to Strength
Dexterity	Perfect Emerald	Helm, body armor	+10 to Dexterity
Damage to undead	Perfect Diamond	Weapon	+68% damage to Undead

Perfect gems are also used in cube recipes: the four crafting families need a Perfect Sapphire, Ruby, Amethyst or Emerald (Crafted Items); 3 Perfect gems + a magic item reroll its properties, and one Perfect gem of each kind + a magic amulet make a Prismatic Amulet (Horadric Cube Recipes). Lower quality gems are also used to upgrade runes (Rune List).

4.Upgrading in the Cube

3 gems of the same kind and quality upgrade to the next quality in the cube: 3 Chipped → 1 Flawed → … → 1 Perfect. One Perfect gem takes 3⁴ = 81 Chipped gems.

Put in the cube	Result
3 × Chipped Ruby	Flawed Ruby
3 × Flawed Ruby	Ruby
3 × Ruby	Flawless Ruby
3 × Flawless Ruby	Perfect Ruby

The table shows Ruby; the other kinds upgrade the same way.

5.Where to Find Them

• Monsters: gems come from the "good" part of monster drops, which also holds jewelry and runes. Which quality drops depends on the difficulty and act of the area (table below). Within a quality each colored gem has a 15% share and the Skull 10%.
• Perfect gems never drop from monsters: in the game data the Perfect gem drop table is not linked to any monster. Perfect gems are made from 3 Flawless gems in the cube or upgraded with a Gem Shrine; the Act 4 Hell's Forge quest also gives 1 Perfect gem per difficulty (along with 1 Standard and 2 Flawless gems).
• Gem Shrine: upgrades one gem in your inventory by one grade; with no gem in the inventory it drops a Chipped gem. Keep only the Flawless gem you want upgraded — if the shrine picks a Perfect gem, it turns it into a Chipped one. Each shrine works once.

Gem Qualities by Difficulty and Act

The share of each quality among the gems monsters drop (from the "Good" drop tables in the game data).

6.Data Source

Socket effects, required levels, cube recipes and drop shares come from the Diablo 2 Resurrected 3.3 (Reign of the Warlock) game data. Poison damage is shown as total damage and duration, as in the game.